Amir masoud ROHANYNIA - student department of master of business administration university of shahid beheshti tehran iran
mohamad rasool bahari - student department of master of business administration university of shahid beheshti tehran iran

Business model definitions. At a general level, the business model has been referred to as a statement (Stewart & Zhao, 0222), a description (Applegate, 0222; Weill & Vitale, 0222), a representation (Morris, Schindehutte, & Allen, 0223; Shafer, Smith, & Linder, 0223), an architecture (Dubosson-Torbay, Osterwalder, & Pigneur, 0220; Timmers, 2991), a conceptual tool or model (George & Bock, 0229; Osterwalder, 0222; Osterwalder, Pigneur, & Tucci, 0223), a structural template (Amit & Zott, 0222), a method (Afuah & Tucci, 0222), a framework (Afuah, 0222), a pattern (Brousseau & Penard, 0224), and a set (Seelos & Mair, 0222). Surprisingly, however, the business model is often studied without an explicit definition of the concept. Of the 221 business model publications reviewed, more than one third (123) do not define the concept at all, taking its meaning more or less for granted. Fewer than half (223) explicitly define or conceptualize the business model, for example, by enumerating its main components. The remaining publications (293) refer to the work of other scholars in defining the concept. Moreover, existing definitions only partially overlap, giving rise to a multitude of possible interpretations.This lack of definitional clarity represents a potential source of confusion, promoting dispersion rather than convergence of perspectives and obstructing cumulative research progress on business models. Table 2 summarizes some of the most prevalent definitions suggested for the business model and shows which articles have adopted these definitions.

Business model, strategy, innovation, value creation; value capture, value proposition